He had reached a conclusion, one he should have admitted and stopped on a lot of time back but he kept stalling the part. Giving reasons, most of them were excuses to his mind on why he shouldn't be doing this. Some of them came out to be rational but most, they were bullshit he tried to believe.
Picking the handset, he dialed the three-digit code which connected him to the lawyer's office, his legal advisor – Chaitanya Rathore.
"Yes, boss" The tone taunted him playfully.
"I need to file a lawsuit. Check your mail." He provided the reason and heard shuffling, the clicks had him lean against the chair and close his eyes.
"I have admired you always, Bhai. Wanting to be like you every time but I promise, I won't be a husband like you."
The words pricked his heart.
What was he doing?
Punishing someone innocent for what he had been going through, was not heartless?
He may be cold, shrewd too, but he wasn't heartless. Something he was to her from the very day of his marriage.
Their marriage.
"Oh, this will be big."
He heard the amazement.
"So much happened, do I live under a rock?" The lawyer admonished himself.
"Rathore, make Arushi Bajaj regret this her entire life." He commanded.
"You got that, babe."
Anirudh rolled his eyes hanging up, his legal advisor was a freak hidden in his tailored 3-piece suit.
Someone he had hired and was suffering the burn since then.
Loosening his tie, he pushed up the chair. It was time he mended certain things, one of them was earning a second chance.
Before, he didn't want to give in to her demand for a separation fearing society and his years-long belief that divorces weren't meant to happen. He had tried his way to prolong the conversation as long as he could, listening to her kicking and screaming at his door when he first refused her.
The next day, he had controlled the urge to outright refuse when she stood with her packed bags, she wanted to be free of him and he felt a rage crawling up as she tried to leave.
He didn't take people walking out of his life quickly.
He had let one walk out and he couldn't forget the day he let them choose everyone above him.
He sat near her when she complained in temple. Her tears made him feel guilty but today her eyes did not accuse him but herself. Something changed today and he couldn't point out what it was, but he couldn't let her walk away again.
He had almost felt how it would be to let her walk out on him today. She didn't look back at him for one last time while he kept staring at her.
He reached the mansion and dashed to his room, placing the discarded suit jacket and his laptop bag carelessly as he checked for her presence.
There was no one.
He changed into a pair of casuals and flocked downstairs, eyes fervently searching for her. It was past dinner time.
"Where is your wife, Anirudh?" He halted hearing his grandmother ask him, he turned towards her uncertainly, Gayatri Devi could be testing him for all he knew.
"She was supposed to be home hours back but the girl is nowhere near." His mother butted in, disapproval evident. "I shouldn't have waited for her to return and help me in preparations. I have only wasted time waiting for her."
"Do you have any idea where she is?" Gayatri Devi repeated her question.
He shook his head.
"Find her and bring her home." Her instructions were clear. "Come with her or don't."
He left the house and started driving, quickly calling the people to get her whereabouts.
"Get me her location." He ordered his people.
He brainstormed about her whereabouts, she had always been in office, home, or Orphanage.
They were in different parts of the city, which one was she in?
He weighed his options, checking the places on his way.
He greeted the caretaker and asked for the woman he married for the world.
"Dhwani mam left in the late afternoon, Sir." The middle-aged man informed him.
The next one was the same, she was out of the place before her day was over.
The last one was the farthest from their family home and near to the apartment they had shared for the past two years.
He decided to check the place after he had stopped at the Orphanage.
He parked the car in the driveway and stepped down, the lights flickered due to the heavy winds.
The caretaker was out, looking at him with a calm smile.
"Good evening, is Dhwani here?" He asked and earned a knowing smile from the woman who had past her sixties.
"Yes, she is in the office at the back."
She led him to the gate without a word as if expecting him to be here.
"She has been there for three hours now, and says she has things to do." The sister informed him "She ditched meal and won't let anyone cajole her into having it."
"She can be stubborn." He passed her an apologetic smile.
"I have known that for years. She can be anything she wants, mostly stubborn." The lady joked "I'll let you talk to her. Tell her to not exert her this much, take her home, and don't bother informing me. It is past everyone's bedtime here."
"Thank you." He nodded as she turned to walk.
"One more thing," She called for his attention "It projected to be a storm today night, take care."
The wind rattled the glasses and he sighed.
It was going to be a storm in the literal sense.
He twisted the knob and pushed the door open at the same time when the lights went off.
The room was blanketed with darkness as he heard her mumbled complaints under her breath.
"You should have slept by now, Mother. It is past your bedtime" She said at the sound of the door opening "I have things to do. I'll leave soon."
The shuffling was heard and the chair scrapped back.
"I have already checked with electricians, they will be here first thing in the morning to fix the inverter. I'm sorry to not make it sooner. Do you think you have candles somewhere here?"
He kept mum, wanting to listen to her for once.
"Now that you are here, I don't mind some company. It feels like I haven't talked to you in months." She closed a drawer. "You know, I haven't talked to anyone for that matter. The last I found a friend, it was Uttara, you must know her, she is an actress and family. I couldn't tell her everything. I didn't want to scare the girl away. She is happy and I'm happy for her."
She didn't skip a beat.
"You know I was supposed to have a meeting today but it was postponed. Now I think I should have come here sooner letting someone else take over the event. I would rather sort this office than be there." She sighed "What do you think about me looking for another job? I promise I will come here and help every day, not that I'll have anything to do better."
She mumbled the last words to herself.
"I also planned for the birthday party for the children, we are to have it next Sunday. I have ordered everything and before you scold me for extra expenses, I'm paying for it from my pocket. I'm taking nothing from the funds, I promise." She assured me rather quickly "I know that you will say all about spending and money management but I want to do this and you won't talk me out of this. I won't let you, are you rolling your eyes at me? I give you more grey hairs, don't I?"
Dhwani giggled, the thunder illuminating her face as the reflection passed the window. With quick steps, she reached the window and pushed it open.
"I am opening it only for 15 minutes, I promise. I want to feel the rain." She clarified and he moved more to the dark part of the office. "I don't fear thunder anymore. It makes me feel happy. It gives me the satisfaction that others don't get heard when it thunders, just like me. Is it too self-deprecating?"
Her voice dimmed.
"I was slapped today, Mother." She confided when the silence turned suffocating. "Not that it was the first time I got hit. I got into fights in school all the time. Oh shit! I wasn't supposed to tell you that."
He saw her eyes wide and her palm cupping her lips as she chided herself.
"I promise I stopped getting into fights in fifth class. That was the last." She cleared. "I am sorry to hide it from you, those kids used to bully me and I couldn't stop but give it back to them."
She scratched her neck and then her cheek, her hands halting. "My cheek still stings, that girl surely knew how to hit someone but you know what hurt more? In school, it was always me standing up for myself. I knew no one would do that for me so I used to do it and fight my battles. There was no one who cared or meant anything from those who stood in the crowd watching me getting hit or me hitting the others. I didn't care about being hit then because I knew I didn't know them. There was no attachment or acquaintances but today, he watched me getting slapped."
She was blinking her tears back.
"Do you think he let that girl insult and slap me while he witnessed it?" She asked turning towards the window as it thundered. She didn't flinch at the harshness "I know one should fight their own battles and all that motivating words but I wanted him to stand up for me once. I can call him an acquaintance atleast, right? We have shared space for two years, Mother. Does it not mean that he would slightly feel some bond with me? Anything? Ofcourse, I don't expect him to like me but there could be something right? Or am I that difficult to be liked? Is that a reason they didn't want me? He didn't want me?"
His fist clenched as shame crawled up his skin and embarrassment made him avert his eyes from her.
"I...I am not being ungrateful, I promise. But it just hurts sometimes." She tried keeping her voice stable. "He must feel trapped because of me. I didn't agree to the marriage. It was at the wrong time that I said yes as a question and Gayatri mam took it as an agreement. I swear I didn't mean to trap him. I tried telling her that, hinting that I was not ready but she manipulated me into thinking that he was okay with everything."
She hugged herself, yet kept the window open.
"He hates me, I know. I have seen it in his eyes." She confessed lowly "I shouldn't have met Gayatri mam ever. I should have acted like a dump girl, a gold digger in front of her so that she would have never got me married to her grandson." She hesitated "I...I tried correcting it. I gave him divorce papers but he didn't sign them."
Finally, she closed the window as she shivered at the coldness.
"I thought he wanted a chance, he got me thinking the same. In the temple, he said he wanted to mend things but I think he was lying. He is stalling it because he fears that it will affect his reputation. I heard the PR team talk about it. They said something along the lines that the Chauhan brothers need to maintain an image for some 6 months, they are planning to launch a new product and get public funding. They need a good image. What do you think? Is it him pinning for a clean image? I think it is true. I am going to talk to him, just not tomorrow. I cannot face him and feel humiliated. I think that is why I don't want to go home. I will crash here today. I will take your silence as yes."
She stepped back to the table.
"I...I have talked a lot today, didn't I?" She laughed lightly "Are you awake or I have bored you to sleep? I know I can. I have lost practice to keep the conversation alive I haven't had a good conversation in months. I'm not alone, I swear. I have a lot of people around but...I am just lonely."
Something crashed and he straightened and took a step forward.
"Oh no, it is just my phone and some pens. Don't worry." She said bending down to pick it up when he tip-toed near her, the light making his face visible slightly if only she looked up.
He picked two of them and forwarded, the electricity flicked and illuminated the room at once.
"You shouldn't have..." her words died as her eyes landed on him. The dark chocolate orbs widened in realization and immediately searched the room, she stammered "Y-You?"
She recoiled back and his palm shot to the table edge preventing the hit, her shoulder brushed his knuckles.
"W-when did...you come here?" She stuttered and stood up, eyes frantic. "W-what all you heard?"
He shrugged wordlessly and her face morphed into panic.
"I meant nothing you heard, okay? I was just ranting and saying nothing. I didn't mean anything." She tried clarifying and his eyes stayed on her as she gritted her teeth, eyes chiding her inner self. "It wasn't for you. I was talking to Mother."
"Okay." He spoke.
"Forget if you have heard anything. It wasn't for you." Her words demanded.
"If that is what you want." he rolled his eyes.
"Yes, just forget everything." She commanded and turned away from him, fists clenched at the side. "What are you doing here? You don't come to an orphanage ever. Why are you here?"
"To take you home." He answered.
"Mansion" She spun correcting him and glared "I can come back on my own. You should leave."
"I am here to take you home." He repeated.
"There is no need." She pressed getting irked. "I have a lot to do today. I will come when I'm done."
He took a quick glance at the floor, there was a pile of books and cover roles—a box of stationery and school bags and scattered forms.
"This looks like a lot of work. Let me help you and then we shall go home." He offered and settled on the chair opposite her.
"No." She snapped but immediately composed herself "I don't need your help. Go home."
The taunt had him glare at her. "Sit down and get started or else, we'll keep doing this till tomorrow. Together. Your wish."
She scowled at his audacity to order her around, stomping her foot silently she settled in the seat opposite him.
"Where do you want to start from?" He asked going through the unfilled forms.
His eyes questioned her to which she looked away, annoyed.
"Fair enough." He concluded, "We do this my way, Petal."