Chapter 14
"When two people are meant for each other, no time is too long, no distance is too far, and no one can ever tear them apart."
-Unknown
Siddarth threw the file on his desk and stood up to pace the length of his office. One week, that’s how long it has been, since Karan gave his ultimatum and he hasn’t let up for a whole week. Every time Siddarth turned Karan had another set of pictures for him to look at or another marriage website he thought would be good to sign up with to find a Gujarati bride.
No amount of arguing on Siddarth’s part had swayed Karan, he had even threatened to leave the family and not return ever but even that hadn’t budged Karan. He had claimed it didn’t matter whether Siddarth stayed with the family or not he still won’t marry unless Siddarth marries first. Siddarth just couldn’t understand what had gotten into his cousin all of a sudden.
He ran his hand at the back of his neck in frustration. At least rest of the family had left him alone, not that they didn’t give him expectant looks everyday. How can he make Karan and rest of the family understand that the only woman he loves and wanted to marry didn’t want to marry at all?
He halted at the window that over looked the busy business district of Edison. He debated for a week on what approach to take with Karan's ultimatum. He knew if he is to be married, then there is only one person he is going to choose to marry. Only problem is how to get her to say yes. Siddarth knew no matter how he approached her she is going to say no and try to get him to agree to his family's choice of girls.
Siddarth decided he is going to do this his own way and only thing he wanted his family to do is talk to her aunt and brother. Her parents are not going to agree for the alliance. Gauri is coming back today from a three day conference, but first he will talk to his family, specifically his mother.
He decided to head home early and get his talk with his mom out of the way then maybe he can talk Gauri into going out with him. He spoke to her everyday but has yet to see her since the reception.
Thought of reception brought a sensual smile to his face. After she had rejoined him at the table he hadn't let her sit in the corner like she wanted to. He had made her get up and dance and have fun with everyone. They had mostly stayed close to Raj and Kruti but had taken their turn dancing with others.
He had been surprised to see her take a couple of turns with Karan. She had danced with her brother while he had danced with Sanya. Both Sanya and Amit had been elated to see Gauri and Siddarth have fun and get involved in all activities. He had been lucky enough to have the first and last dance with her. At the end of the night she had been more relaxed and smiled openly at everyone.
Over the week he spoke to her frequently over the phone and each time she asked him if everything was okay with him. It was as if she sensed he was hiding something from her. He is ready to tell her and put forth his proposal to her and let her decide what she wants to do, for him she was it.
Siddarth felt his body tense as he came close to his home. In the past he had stayed away as much as possible but now things have changed, but his anger has not diminished yet. He decided to shower and change before he talked to his parents.
Thirty minutes later Siddarth was ready in tanned Dockers and a maroon polo shirt. He pulled out his phone to check messages and got lost in Gauri's photo he had taken at the reception. He caressed her face and smiled. He was so lost in his thoughts he didn't realize someone was knocking on the door until his mom called out his name.
"Siddarth?" He put the phone away quickly and went to open the door and was surprised to see his mom and aunt both at the door. He had a feeling he knew what this was about and braced himself. His aunt smiled when he didn’t say anything.
“Siddarth, can we come in?” He opened the door wider with hesitance. He waited for his mom and aunt to sit on one of the sofa and he sat opposite of them. He was sure they were in his room to start their usual emotional blackmail once again.
Hetal sighed when neither mother nor son said anything. “Siddarth I know what you are thinking,” her nephew raised an eyebrow and Hetal felt his pain in her heart, and knew Sunita was probably hurting even more seeing her son so closed off from his family. “Your mom and I wanted to tell you that we will abide by whatever decision you make regarding Karan’s request, but we would like to request for you to think long and hard before you make your decision. Should you decide to marry we wanted to make a suggestion..” Hetal trailed off when Siddarth stood up and walked away from them angrily. Sunita and Hetal looked at each other anxiously and realized that was the wrong thing to say to him.
Siddarth stared out the window at the rose garden to calm his temper. Once again his family wanted to interfere in his life, first Karan with his ultimatum and now his aunt and mom with suggestion of a suitable girl.
He turned and walked back to the sofa once he was calm enough to talk. “I was coming down to talk to mom on my way out but you came up before I could come down. I have already decided to grant Karan his request.” Both ladies were surprised at first but smiled widely once they realized what he said. Before they could start talking he held up his hand. “Don’t start celebrating yet, I am not yet finished.” He looked at them to make sure they were paying attention.
When Siddarth was sure he had their undivided attention he started talking again. “I am only going to say this once and not discuss it again so don’t try to change my mind. The girl I want to marry may not accept my proposal so don’t get your hopes up. I will not marry anyone else but her.” Hetal was worried and Sunita was shocked, they both exchanged another anxious glance. “I will tell you who she is when I return tonight so you can speak to her relatives.”
“This is the girl you wanted to marry before, the one you were in love with?”
Siddarth looked at his mother to gauge her expression but was unable to decide if she was upset about this. He shrugged his shoulders and answered honestly. “Yes it is.”
He kept watching her to see if she became angry or upset. Sunita nodded slowly and looked at Hetal. “Hetal we should leave and let Siddarth finish getting ready.” She walked out of the room without saying anything else.
Hetal watched her younger sister-in-law with worry as she walked out and then glanced at Siddarth. She gave him an encouraging smile and patted him on the shoulder before following Sunita out the door.
Siddarth grabbed his wallet, car keys and walked out the door without giving anything else a second thought. He refused to give into his mom’s emotional blackmail this time.
Sunita did not stop until she was in the kitchen. She blinked back her tears, and sat down tiredly.
“Sunita are you okay?”
Sunita looked at her sister-in-law and could not hide her pain from the woman who has been more like a sister to her than her own sister. “Yeah Hetal, I am fine.” Sunita smiled at Hetal when she placed her arm around her to sooth her. “I was hoping to make Gauri my daughter-in-law, but looks like fate has other plans for us.”
Hetal rubbed Sunita’s shoulder soothingly. “Don’t lose heart Sunita, who knows, you may like the girl Siddarth has chosen for himself more than Gauri.”
Sunita smiled at her faintly. “Say it like you mean it Hetal, I know you are not convinced of this either. Gauri would have made him a good life partner.”
“Mom, Heatal aunty? Did I hear you say you want to make Gauri your elder daughter-in-law? Kruti asked as she walked in the kitchen followed by grinning Raj.
“Wow aunty that is a great idea.” He said as he took a seat at the table.
His smile faded when the older ladies did not reply. “What is wrong Hetal aunty?” He looked at Kruti but she also looked confused when her mom and aunt did not answer.
Sunita looked at her daughter and Raj and sighed. “We never got a chance to suggest this to Siddarth. He already decided he wants to marry the girl he was in love with before. He is gone to propose to her.” Sunita did not sound happy at all.
Kruti and Raj exchanged a look and decided to keep quiet on the subject for now. They cannot reveal anything to the family before Siddarth had his talk with Gauri.
Gauri looked at her phone again, no missed calls or messages from Siddarth. She had called him three times and he has yet to call her back. She has been back for four hours now and he hasn’t even text her to see how she was doing. Something was definitely wrong. She had felt a sense of forbidding for a whole week and could not figure out what was making her feel like this, but she knew it has something to do with him. He had been evasive every time she asked him if something was wrong.
She wanted to go see him as soon as she returned from her three days nursing conference but decided against it when she realized it was not a good idea to get that involved in his life. Gauri decided to think about this later and got up to go to the kitchen to eat dinner alone. Sweta was out with Karan but Gauri decided to cook anyway to distract herself.
Just as she was entering the kitchen the doorbell rang, she wondered who would come this late in the evening. She turned and walked back to the front of the house. She opened the door and was surprised to see Siddarth on her doorstep. She smiled and opened the door wider. “Hi, what are you doing here?”
Siddarth crossed his arm over his chest and leaned against the doorframe. He scowled at her. “Why did you open the door without checking to see who is at the door first?” Gauri was taken aback by his question and scolding. She looked at him closely and realized he was upset about something else but he jumped on first thing he could complain about.
“Are you going to scold me standing in the doorway or are you going to come in and tell me what is really bothering you?” She asked him just as belligerently.
Siddarth looked away from her in shame, instead of greeting her like she greeted him, he started scolding her. Gauri on the other hand was getting anxious so she took his hand, pulled him in the house and closed the door. “Did you eat?”
Siddarth shook his head and sighed. “No and that is why I am here, let’s go out to eat,” He said and moved towards the door. She caught his hand just as he passed her.
“No we are not going out. You don’t look to be in the mood to eat out. I already have dinner ready and was about to eat, do you want to join me?”
He looked around then raised an eyebrow, “Why, where is your bodyguard?” She grinned at him.
“She is with your bodyguard.” Siddarth laughed at that and relaxed a bit. “Well then I will definitely join you,” He said with a smile.
“Have a seat at the table, I will bring everything out,” She said as she went into the kitchen. Siddarth waited for her to come back.
Gauri gathered everything on the tray and walked out. She was surprised to see Siddarth had not taken the seat. He took the tray from her. “Let me take this.” He set the tray on the table and turned back to her. “Do you need to bring anything else from the kitchen?”
Gauri shook her head. “Just the dishes, I can handle those.” She turned and went back in the kitchen and came back within minutes with everything. He waited for her to set the table then pulled a chair out for her to sit before taking his own seat.
Gauri waited until he started eating before starting a conversation. “I heard from Amit today, he and Sanya are coming back late tonight.”
Siddarth nodded. “Yes, Karan mentioned he was going to pick them up at the airport. How was your conference?”
Gauri told him about her three days in Philadelphia and how nice it had been to catch up with some school friends. They continued with casual conversation during dinner, but Gauri noticed Siddarth only half listened to her and had a preoccupied look on his face through dinner. Once he was finished she pushed her plate aside, folded her arms on the table and waited for him to say something.
Siddarth didn’t know how to approach the subject of marriage with Gauri. He was scared to say anything because deep in his heart he knew this would make her withdraw from him. Her soft question brought him out of his dreadful thoughts.
“Siddarth, what is wrong? I can see something is bothering you, in fact you sounded distracted the whole week.”
Gauri decided to give him time when he didn’t answer her. She got up and picked up the dirty dishes, she almost dropped all the dishes when she registered what Siddarth spoke quietly. “Karan has demanded I get married first and only then he will marry Sweta.”
Gauri felt a sharp pain in her heart at the thought of Siddarth being married to someone else. She controlled the trembling of her hands by carefully placing the dishes back on the table and taking her seat again.
The silence between the two was deafening but neither had the words or courage to take the conversation forward. Gauri stood up and started clearing the table again.
Siddarth watched as Gauri put her full concentration on cleaning the table and sighed. He waited for her say something but she just kept going in and out the kitchen to clear up the dinner dishes and put away the left overs. He couldn’t read her expression to see what she thought of the latest condition put forth in front of him by his family.
Gauri’s thoughts were in turmoil, on one hand she was angry on behalf of Sweta and on the other the fact that Siddarth may marry soon was causing her tremendous amount of pain. She needed few moments to put her own emotions aside if she wants to help Siddarth come to terms with the fact that he needs to get married for his family’s sake, but more than that she needs to convince him to give in for Sweta’s sake. Once she finished cleaning the kitchen she joined Siddarth in the living room. “Have you decided what you want to do about Karan’s request?”
Siddarth turned towards her when he heard her ask him about his decision. He tried to read her expression but once again found it hard to figure out what she was thinking.
He nodded his head. “Yes I have, I have decided to get married but on my own terms.” She looked away from him but he didn’t miss the flicker of emotion in her eyes and finally breathed a sigh of relief. She isn’t indifferent as she is pretending to be. He took her hand and made her sit with him on the sofa. “Gauri I need your help with this,” he knew it was going to take everything in him to talk her in to accepting his proposal, “Will you help me?”
Gauri tried to pull her hand from his but he held it tighter. She didn’t think she could help him in choosing someone suitable for him if that is what he wanted from her, but somehow she didn’t think that is what he wanted. She sensed he wanted her to do something more than that. “Siddarth, I am the last person you want help from.”
“You are wrong in this. You are the only one who can help me in this Gauri.” Siddarth couldn’t stretch this anymore. “Gauri, will you marry me please?” This time when she pulled her hand out of his, he couldn’t stop her. She moved away from him and shook her head.
“No Siddarth, please don’t do this to yourself, I cannot marry you.”
“Why can’t you marry me Gauri?” Siddarth asked, he got up and went towards her. “I know you have feelings for me and you know I love you also, so what is stopping us from being together?”
Gauri held out her hand when he moved towards her. “I am not right for you Siddarth. You promised we would always remain friends and you would respect my wishes, then why are you doing this now?” Siddarth didn’t stop until he was in front of her.
Siddarth pulled her into his arms. “Because I have no choice, baby, I cannot see myself with anyone else but you.” He took her back to the sofa to sit. Once he had her settled against his chest she relaxed into him. “Gauri, I can’t marry anyone else, if I do I will destroy that person’s life along with mine too.”
“You will destroy your life if you marry me Siddarth. I cannot give you what you want. I would never be able to be a true wife to you.” Siddarth closed his eyes in pain when he heard the defeated tone of her voice. He didn’t want to push her into telling him what she meant by those words. “Then be my friend.”
Gauri looked at him and the tears on her face made him even more determined to persuade her to marry him. “Yes be my friend, we can remain friends even after marriage. I won’t push you to give me more than you are willing to give me.”
Gauri sat up straighter and pulled away from him. She let the tears flow out of her eyes, not bothering to hide them from him. She was tempted to say yes just so that she could be with him finally, but she had to be the sensible one here.
Siddarth is not thinking beyond here and now. She had to think about her brother and Siddarth’s family, at the same time she needed to do what is best for Sweta also. Her life is spinning out of control and she didn’t know how to stop it. Whatever decision she makes someone is bound to be hurt by this. “Have you told your family about me?” She finally asked him.
He pulled her back in his arms. “I told them I want to marry only one girl and no one else. I wanted to talk to you first, but as soon as I get home I am telling them about you.” Siddarth made Gauri look at him by cupping her face and lifting it up. “It won’t matter what they think. If you say no to my proposal things will not change. I will tell Karan he can do what he wants with his life but I will choose to live mine the way I want to.”
He released her and stood up. He might as well put everything in front of her. “The truth is before you came back into my life I had decided to move to my apartment in Philadelphia and take over the management of the properties we own there and if you don’t want to be with me then this is what I will do.”
Gauri was stunned, things were even worse than she had first thought. He is going to continue to punish himself and his family for her. “Siddarth, don’t do anything rash, you might regret this decision. As for your marriage proposal, right now I don’t have any answers for you. There are so many things to consider before I can decide.”
he didn’t know how else to buy time to think things thru. Her heart was leaping with joy at the thought of being with him, but her fears overruled her heart and mind. There are too many what ifs involved if she ignored everything and just listened to her heart.
Siddarth took his seat next to her again and took her hands in his. “If you need time then take the time, but it’s time I told my family about us so they can also decide to approve or disapprove of my choice. It still won’t matter to me but it might help you to decide if you know if you know what they think about our relationship.”
He glanced down at their joined hands, “Just keep one thing in mind when you make your decision, that I love you, no one else, and I only want to be with you.” He kissed her on the forehead and stood up, “I better leave now.” Gauri also stood up and walked him to the door.
“Goodnight Gauri,” he turned to open the door but stopped when he felt her take his hand in hers. He turned back towards her and waited. Gauri didn’t know what to say when he turned back but she knew she couldn’t let him leave without giving him something to hold on to.
“Siddarth I want you to know if things were not so complicated with my life I would have said yes to your proposal without hesitation, but my life is so complicated I fear that I will drag you down with me. I have so many issues and hang-ups. I wouldn’t even be able to think about any physical relationship with you.”
Gauri knew she was not making any sense to him but she couldn’t bring herself to tell him about the accident. She knew he wouldn’t worry about her physical flaw but what about the fact that she more than likely won’t be able to have his baby. Will he accept her if he knew this? Family is important to him no matter how estranged he is from them and no matter how much he denies it. She couldn’t take the chance of being rejected by him or his family if they came to know of this.
Siddarth knew she was attracted to him as much as he was attracted to her. It was hard to hide this, she had responded to his kisses with passion, so then what is her reason for denying them this pleasure? He knew it was connected to her accident but he won’t push her for the answers to this either. He only wanted her to agree to marry him.
Once they are married he will find a way to make her tell him what is making her hold back from him. He cupped her face with both hands. “I will abide by your wishes regarding this and remain your friend even after we are married. However I hope that you will give me a chance to get rid of any hang-ups and issues you have related to love making. None of your issues will change the fact that I love you, and no matter what happens in the future this will not change.” He leaned down and kissed her lips gently. He only lingered for few moments then pulled back.
She kept watching him then finally nodded her head. “Goodnight Siddarth, I will see you tomorrow.” He released her and walked out the door without looking back.
Gauri closed the door and slumped against the door. She already knew she is going to accept his proposal. She wanted to be with him, she was tired of denying the fact that she was only half alive without him. She needed to do this not only for Sweta, but for him also. She needed to bring him close to his family again. If for any reason they are torn apart again she wanted to make sure that he had his family’s support should he need them.
Please don't forget to vote for the story if you liked it. Thank you all so very much for your patients and all the wonderful feedbacks, would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter.