I Was Always Yours To Be

Daadi's Arrival

Looking at me sternly, she said, "Answer me Yash. Is this how you treat your wife?" "Daadi, she is not my..." I started off but was stopped when Mom went up to Daadi and touching her feet, saying, "Greetings Maa." "God bless," she said blessing Mom. Mom stood up straight and said softly, "You must be very tired from your trip, please come and rest." She raised her hand stopping my mother from talking and said, "I will rest later, right now, I have to get an answer from Yash." I was about to talk when Mom smiled and said, "It's nothing. They just had a small rift and Yash got angry. You know very well how short tempered he is. But this is a matter between a husband and wife, I think we should leave it to them to sort out." Daadi stood quietly and nodded. "You are right. We shouldn't interfere with husband and wife matters," she said. She looked at me and approached me slowly. "It's your birthday and I came to give you a surprise. But reaching here, you gave me a surprise. And such a pleasant one. Your younger brothers are married and your were single for so long. I didn't know, that you had chosen Sacha as your life partner. She is perfect for you. You two have my blessings," she said. She ran her fingers through my hair and cupped my face. Bringing my head down, she kissed my forehead. Raising back my head, I noticed Urvashi standing and looking at me. Her tears were gone. Daadi noticed me looking at her and turned around. "Kalyani, who is she?" Daadi asked Mom. Mom turned and looked at Urvashi. Mom smiled and walking closer to her, she said, "No one Maa, she is a new servant in our house. We only hired her a week ago." I felt embarrassed. Daadi approached Urvashi and looked at her from head to toe. "This maid is dressed like a queen. Where did she get all of these clothes and jewellery from?" Daadi said. "These are all fake. She wore them for the party," Mom said. "Daadi, she is not..." I was about to tell the truth but Sacha held my arm and stopped me. I looked at her annoyed and helpless. "Leave all of this now. Maa, please come to your room and take some rest," Mom insisted.

Daadi nodded and left. I looked at Urvashi as she turned around and left. Everyone went to their room. I love my grandmother with all my heart but her arrival has just made everything worse for me. And this is all because of Sacha. If she had not announced herself as my wife, none of this would have happened. Now, not only my grandmother, but the entire world is thinking that she is my wife when it is not so. Urvashi is my wife! I looked at Sacha with my anger reaching it's peak and storming up to her, I held her hand and pulled her to Urvashi's room. Urvashi was standing in front of the mirror and removing her jewellery. She saw us and looked at me without any emotion on her face. I released Sacha's hand and said to her, "Apologise to Urvashi now." She looked at me shocked. "What's all of this about now?" Urvashi asked sounding tired. "Sacha will not apologise to this girl," Mom said from behind. I turned and looked at her asking, "But why? Sacha is wrong so what is so wrong in her apologising?" Mom came in and said, "Yash, you know how your grandmother is. If she finds out that we lied to her and that Urvashi is really your wife, she would be so hurt." "So does this means that I have to act as if Sacha is my wife in reality?" I asked frustrated. "Yash, I didn't want to tell you this but, your grandmother is suffering with a weak heart and the doctor said that if she remains unhappy or gets any sort of shock, she can fall sick or even get a heart attack," Mom said sadly. I looked at her shocked. "What? Why didn't you tell us this before?" I exclaimed. She turned around and said with the same amount of sadness, "I didn't want to tell you guys because you all love your grandmother so much and would have been so heartbroken. Also, she didn't want you all to know." She said. Everyone was silent. No one said anything else and I fell to my knees and burst out in tears. "I am so helpless. I can't tell my grandmother the truth and I can't lie to her that Sacha is my wife. What do I do?" I said sobbing. I felt a hand on my shoulder and Mom said to me, "Just play along for a while Yash. Someday, you might get to tell her the truth. It's just a matter of time."

I got up and looked at Urvashi. "I have maintained the role of a maid ever since I married and came here. I will continue," she said. Sacha came and held my hand. Urvashi's eyes went on it but her eyes didn't tear up. It seemed as if she didn't care anymore. I looked at her helpless. It pained me, hurted me to have someone else in her place, even if it was just for show. "Can you all leave my room? I have to change my clothes," Urvashi said annoyed. Mom turned around and left. "How dare you? Is this how you speak to your boss?" Sacha asked angrily and raised her hand to slap Urvashi but in the nick of time, I held her hand and saved Urvashi. Looking at her angrily, I said, "Don't forget Sacha, Urvashi is my wife and if anyone here is being hired to do a job, it is you. The job of acting as my wife in front of the world and my grandmother. So don't act smart." I pushed her hand away aggressively as she looked at me shocked. "Leave," I said to her. She looked at Urvashi with anger in her eyes and left the room embarrassed. I looked back at Urvashi but she held a straight face at me and didn't meet her eyes with mine. "You can leave also," Urvashi said. I looked at her with a frown but she still didn't look back at me. I left the room and deliberately dropped my handkerchief at the door. After walking a little way from her room, I turned back and went back to the room as leaving my handkerchief as the excuse. When, I reached back, Urvashi was trying to untie the string at the back of her sari blouse and muttering annoyed, "He tied it so tightly, how am I going to untie it now." I walked into the room and went close to her. My fingers touched her warm back and she turned around startled and before I could think of anything else, she landed a slap on my face. I held the cheek and was shocked. Looking back at her, she looked at me with disgust in her eyes. "How dare you? How dare you touch me?!" She screamed. Her eyes were welling up. "I was just trying to help you," I said. "Did I ask for your help? Did I? I told you to leave! Why are you back here?" She shouted.