It has been a week since the anniversary and Kartavya and I haven't talked much. I was still shocked by his silence when I asked if he loved her or not. I was bothered by it, I don't know why but I was really bothered by his silence.
After I walked away from the dance, he went to the bar and we didn't talk to each other after that. At one point I noticed him walking towards the back exit and soon he disappeared somewhere. He came back after an hour from wherever he went. I wanted to ask him where he went but thought that's not the right time.
During the ride home I asked him where he disappeared and he answered with nowhere. After that I didn't ask him anything.
I shook my head not wanting to think anymore of that and concentrated on the paperwork in front of me. It was about 15 minutes later that I heard a knock on my cabin door. Lifting my head, I looked at the person standing there and a full blown smile spread on my lips seeing my Utkarsh bhaiya standing there.
"Bhaiya" I stood up from my chair and went to hug him. God, how I missed him. It was literally a month since my wedding and I haven't seen them in person since my Pagphera. "Aap yahan kya kar rahe hain?"
(What are you doing here brother?)
"Oh there's something Kaushika wanted to discuss with me. So I wanted to meet you before I went to his cabin." He said while caressing my hair. "Kaisi ho gudiya, kya woh tumhare saath accha behave kar rahe hain? Kya Kaartavya aapka acha kayal rakh raha hai." Always worried about me. He has been Kshtij and I's saviour since we were children. He always made sure to keep us safe from our uncle and aunt, our fathers elder brother and his wife.
(How are you Gudiya, are they treating you well? Is Kartavya good to you.)
We were a happy family. My uncle and aunt loved us before our parents' death or so we thought. After Our parents died in a car accident it was as if a switch had been flipped. They took us in and since then it was a nightmare for the three of us. I was only six back then when this all started happening, my grandparents lived in a different house, grieving their youngest son and daughter-in-law's death.
My uncle and aunt would abuse us physically and verbally. They make us do the house chores even if they had house help and abuse us if we didn't do it properly. The main focus of their abuse was me. I didn't understand why until I grew up. They would separate us from each other and lock us in dark rooms and wouldn't give us food, if we did something that she thought was wrong. My aunt's target was mostly me and she would sometimes take the abuse to a whole new level when Bhaiya and Kshitij were not around.
Around the time I was turning 8 bhaiya saw her hitting me for taking back my toy from her daughter which was given by my parents. He was so angry he pushed her hard that she fell to the ground. To say she was angry would be an understatement. Not only did she beat us, she also told our uncle about it and he hurt bhaiya so much he wasn't able to breathe and made us watch and told this would happen to us if we ever did or say against them.
After a while they noticed that bhaiya was having trouble breathing and took him to the hospital. He had two broken ribs if they didn't take him to the hospital in time he would have been here. Uncle called Dadu and said that bhaiya fought with a couple of older boys in school to cover up the abuse and threatened us not to tell otherwise they would kill him so we kept quiet. After that incident Dadu took us to live with him and Dadi.
"Oye kaha ko gayi. Do you wanna go have lunch after the meeting?" He looked at me waiting for my response.
(where are you lost)
"But bhaiya I have work." I pouted, I really wanted to have lunch with him but I can't because I have to submit the design by evening.
"Don't worry about that, give it to Vishal. I saw him sitting ideally anyway. He must have a lot of free time." He came forward and took the file I was working on. "You know what, let me give it to him." I followed him out of the cabin.
"Here Vishal, Complete this work and I want a proper report on what you have done by the end of the day." Bhaiya handed him the file with a cold expression on his face.
"Sir, b-but I a-already have a lot of work and this was Anika's responsibility." Seeing Vishal stammer gave me a different kind of satisfaction.
"Weren't you sitting ideally when I walked in Mr.Das. You must have a lot of free time to sit like that. Get it done, no more excuses." With that he walked away without turning around. Atul who was also standing with me couldn't control himself and let out a chuckle. Hearing Atul he turned in our direction noticing it was us he expression changed to murderous rage. Since he can't do or say anything cursing he went to his cabin.
"Anika you should be careful with him, have you seen how he was looking at you like he wants to murder you." Atul's voice was laced with worry and concern. Turning I looked at him and let out a little laugh.
"He can't do anything, Atul. He's just a narcissistic pig who has more ego than brain so don't worry about me." With that I went into the office and started packing since after lunch I wanted to go and work from home.
******
By the time I reached home it was 10:30 and I was exhausted. After having lunch with bhaiya I went home to spend some time with Dadi and Dadu but Sakshi, Shaurya, Kshitij and some other friends decided it was a good idea to go karaoke and they decided to drag me with them. I went to the kitchen and got a glass of water before going up to the bedroom.
Kartavya was sitting in the recliner in the corner of the room working. I placed my things on the couch and looked at him. He didn't even glance up from his laptop when I walked in. Anger was literally radiating off his body.
"Hey, is everything okay?" Unsure why he was angry, I just stood there playing with a bracelet on my wrist. He raised his head and let out a chuckle and it was anything but nice.
"Is everything okay? Oh everythings okay, in fact everything is brilliant." Sarcasm was dripping from his voice. "Arrey tum khade kyu ho, aao baitho, nachte-gaate thak gaye hoge." He got up and reached me in two long strides and made me sit on the couch. How does he know?
(Why are you standing, come on sit you must have been tired from all the singing and dancing)
"How do you know where I was?" Confused, I stood up and looked at him strangely. "Are you having me followed?" I was shocked.
"Following you? Do you think I don't have any better work than that?" He scoffed as if it was such a ridiculous thing to say. "When you weren't home for dinner and not answering your phone, everyone was worried, so I decided to call your brother who said that you went to karaoke with your friends. Don't you have a little decency to let someone know when you are going to be late at night? Kya aap jante hain ki jab aap ghar par nahi the aur tum phone bhi nahi utha rahe the to sabh kitne pareshan ho rahe the" He was really angry and it made me feel guilty that I didn't let anyone know. It just slipped my mind.
(Do you know how worried everyone was when you weren't home and picking up our calls)
"I'm sorry it completely slipped my mind. After lunch my friend wanted to spend some time with me and we decided to go to karaoke." Fuck I should have at least texted Avni bhabhi about my plans. Suddenly Kartavya held my bicep and jerked me towards him.
"Oh yeah lunch, I forgot about that completely, who was that asshole you were having lunch with." I looked up at him and his hazel eyes were cold and piercing into my soul. His face was set into a hard mask. Our proximity was making me lightheaded. I don't understand how he can look so good at 10:30 at night. "And don't even start with having you followed by someone, I saw you with my own fucking eyes when I was leaving that restaurant after a meeting. Was he there with you at the Karaoke night too." His minty breath fanned my cheeks, his face was red with anger and I don't understand why.
Shaking my head, I laughed out loud oh my god I can't believe he thought I was having lunch with someone else. But when I looked at his face he was enraged. "Weren't you the one who said not to interfere with each other's business?" I raised my chin trying to control my laugh.
"Yes but that doesn't mean you can go behind my back and meet other assholes. Is he your fucking boyfriend? If he is, I'm going to kill him." His grip tightened on my bicep. Deciding to rile him up more I say.
"What if he's my boyfriend, why would you kill him? Are you jealous?" By the time I finished our faces were so close I could see the gold specks in his hazel eyes along with a little grey in them.
"Yes, What if I'm jealous you're my wife, MINE." A gasp left me as soon as she said that. I was shocked. He was jealous. I'm confused and happy and a million other things were running in my mind.
"You're jealous?" I asked, still not believing what I just heard.
"Yes, I was so angry and I still am when I saw you with him. I wanted to kill that man when I saw him touching you and you were letting him." His jaw ticked and anger was clear in his eyes. But then I remembered something and pushed him away from me. He stumbled, not expecting me to do that. He looked at me with pure shock and he opened his mouth as if wanting to say something.
"No don't, you have no right to be angry. Uh-uh no." I let out a low chuckle when I wanted to ask this since so many days and looks like this is the right time. "You have no right to ask me who I was with and where I was, when you are still in love with your ex. And think about the shock I got when I saw news the next day that you were spotted with some lady at the party. I didn't question you about it did I? So refrain from interfering in my life ever again." I got to know about it when my friends wanted to meet me immediately.
******
"Hey are you okay?" That was the first question Sakshi asked when she spotted.
"Yeah I'm okay, why wouldn't I?" I was confused why they are looking at me like that.
"So you haven't seen the paper or social media?" They are beating around the bush and not just telling me what's going on. Shaurya took out his phone and handed it to me. When I looked at it was just rooted in my spot and just kept staring at the photo.
"Kartavya Raichand spotted with a woman who is not his wife at the 45th anniversary of their company. What was he doing there alone with a woman in such a secluded area of the hotel? Is he cheating on his wife just after a month? Is she the other woman? Let us know what you think.
"Guys at this point you must know not to trust these rubbish paps. They just want to gossip about something. I talked with Kartavya and he promised there is nothing like that." I tried to convince them.
******
I turned around to walk into the closet when he held my hand and pulled me back to him.
"No, stop, I'm not in love with her." He pulled even closer. " And I didn't spend my time with any girl at the party. I was just upset and went outside for a smoke and that girl came out of nowhere. Why didn't you ask me about this earlier"
"Oh you want me to believe that." he was still not releasing my hand when i try to move away.
"Yes I want you too. Because that is the truth. I may ignore I may be angry at you and I may yell at you, and annoy you to the point that you will want to kill me but what I won't ever do is to cheat on you." The sincerity in his voice is speaking volumes. I don't know why but I already knew that the news was fake and I was just angry and jealous. "If it was bothering you so much why didn't you ask me earlier?"
"I was doing as you said not to interfere. So what I don't get is, when you don't want me meddling in your business then why the fuck are you interfere in my life." Trying to release my hand from his grip I twist my hand but his grip tightens to the point I'm sure it's going to leave a bruise.
"You can ask me whatever you want and I will answer you. I was a little angry about something and I didn't spend an hour with her. You can ask Mihir, I was with him." Cupping my face he brought our foreheads together. "Aap hamari biwi ho, aapka haq hai mujhe question karne ka. Aur uss ladki ke bare mein, let's not talk about her you know it's just bullshit. I'm sorry for saying that you can ask me whatever you want from now"
(You are my wife, you have the right to question me. And about that girl, let's not talk about her.)
"You know everyone says you don't say sorry to anyone but you have said it to me three times." I know I'm giving in so easily and I don't know if what I'm doing is right or not but for some reason I trust him. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt.
"Haan, madam kya kya karna padta hai apke liye." He moved a little back and removed his hands from my face. As soon as he removed his hands my body felt cold and a shiver passed through it and I suddenly felt empty. "Ab bologe kon tah woh nikama."
(The things I do for you)
(Now tell who's that fool)
"Hey, aisa mat bolo gussa aa jayega mujhe. Bahut special hai woh mere liye. Nahi rah sakti unke bina." When I looked at his face he looked like he was controlling himself from destroying something. I was trying so hard to stop the smile threatening to spread on my face. "Aur aap jante hai unhe."
(Hey, don't call him that, I will get angry. He is very special to me and I can't live without him)
(and you know him)
"Mujhe gussa a raha Anika. Stop making me jealous, aur bolo uska naam." He started pacing the room angrily.
(don't make me angry)
(tell me his name)
"Utkarsh hai unka naam." I finally said
(his name is utkarsh)
"Utkarsh, hmm ye kaisa naam hai. Pura naam bolo." He stood waiting for me to tell his last name.
(Utkarsh, what kind of name is that? And tell me his last name)
"Utkarsh Rajvansh." As soon as I said his name he stopped pacing and looked at me. His face was slowly turning red with embarrassment. Unable to control it anymore I burst out laughing.
"Woh aap ka Bhai tha." He was embarrassed. God I never thought I'd see the day Kartavya Raichand blushed.
(he was your brother)
"Haan woh bhaiya the." I was still laughing when I heard the most beautiful laugh ever. He had his head thrown back a burst of deep loud hearty laughter. When he laughs his eyes crinkle at the corners. Stunned, I stood there staring at him. This is the first time I heard his laugh and I can say that it was my favourite sound in the whole world.
(yes he was)
"You have a beautiful laugh" I said, looking at him in awe. He stopped laughing when I said that and looked at me with a blank face. All the warmth present in his expression earlier disappeared. "What, why are you looking at me like that?"
"Nothing." Shaking his head he went into the bathroom. What happened to him all of a sudden I don't get it. He was sometimes warm, sometimes cold. I don't understand how he can so easily switch on and off his emotions.
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