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Water droplets had started hitting the window panels, when Abir broke the silence, "Maa is going to send the card for printing tomorrow if I don't break up with you." He looked at me, taking my hand in his and kissed my hand gently. His eyes were watery and I could feel the pain, the pain that was raw in my heart.
"Which card, Bro?" Kuhu innocently asked, "Maa broke the alliance then which card?"
He turned his eyes towards Kunal, who was biting his lower lip and looked anxiously at his brother.
"An invite for changing Kunal's name from Rajvansh to Kapadia." A lone tear came down his cheek. "I don't know how Maa can do this, how heartless she can be. She disapproves this marriage alliance and she is willing to go as low as this. She is going to ruin the happiness of everyone just to make me break up with Mishti," he locked his eyes with me, "the love of my life. She doesn't care about anyone except herself, she doesn't care about my happiness,"he turned to look at Kunal, "Kunal's happiness, who has done everything in this life for Maa. Parul Masi's sacrifice and happiness will all come to a end. She gave up everything dear to her for Kunal," he rested his head on the sofa,"how did Maa become this selfish?" Everyone had tears in their eyes, Abir was crying, unable to control himself, Kunal too had become teary- eyed listening to Abir, Kuhu tried to sooth him down. I tried to comfort Abir, wrapping my arms around his shoulders hoping to provide him the love he needed, but this pain was rough, felt like it would last forever.
"Abir, we'll find a solution." He rested his face on my shoulder, slowing making his breathing come to normal, he wiped his tears and looked at Kuhu and Kunal, who was now holding his hands on his forehead. "This nightmare has to end, bhai."
"It will Nanko! You are with me, right?" Abir's voice was back to normal, more stern and more aware. "I will never let anything happen to you Nanko," he walked towards him, " you are my brother and will always be my brother. My first unconditional love has been for you and it will always be for you."
"Always Bhai?" Kunal looked up and stood to hug him.
"Always Nanko!"
Kunal broke away from the hug and made Abir sit down, he knelt in front of him and spoke, the words came slowly, "This is difficult for me... and it will take ages to get used to it, but I know that what Maa," he was conflicted, "what your Maa is doing is not right. I see it Bhai, today I see it, she wants to control you, she always wanted to control you," he squeezed his eyes shut and then as a whisper spoke the words that couldn't have been truer, " she controlled me and now she is using me so that she can control you." He felt defeated, his shoulders sulked and he looked lifeless.
"And we will never let that happen, right Nanko?" Abir looked at him proudly, bringing him on his feet and them embracing him, "today, it feels like my Nanko has become mature." He settled him down next to Kuhu and walked back towards me, taking my hand, "Our wedding will happen and ," he picked him his phone and indicating to the message, "Maa will never be successful in ruining so many lives!"
"What have you thought Abir?" is all I could ask him.
"I am not going to let her win, not going to let her control me. Maa is wrong. I know how to solve this, bring an end to all this because now, I know, Maa will never learn, she will never approve of you," he eyes glistened with tears, "Mishti, you are the one person she will never be able to control and she cannot control me and now she is feeling restless." He looked at all of us and smirked, "The antagonist in my life is my own Maa, and I now know she will do anything to control me, even hurt the people I love. But I will never let her control me or hurt anyone I love. We cannot change Maa now, in fact unless she realizes the grave mistake she is committing on her own, she will not change, neither her intentions nor will her tactics. No one can change her mind now. We won't play games with her, we won't apologize, we'll let her do what she wants, but I promise none of us will be affected by it. Mishti and I will get married in the temple with the people who want to give us their blessings. I know Badi Maa and Bade Papa will come for us. I'll renounce my surname Rajvansh and leave the Rajvansh Sadan and move here in Mishbir House, away from Maa." I was astonished but no one had any words to break his monologue, "Nanko," he looked at Kunal and then at Kuhu, " Kuhu and you should shift with me, in fact, I think you should restart your life and move abroad. Go to London, start a business, take Parul Masi with you," he closed his eyes, "she has always been a great mother figure for us, and she is your real mother too. You are lucky that she is your mother. She has spent her prominent share of life in the shadow of her Ben Ba, she sacrificed enough for you, but not anymore, she has the right to be happy again Kunal, to live the dignified life that she lost because of Mehul Kapadia and Maa. She was rightfully married to Mehul Kapadia. It is him who should have been punished not her. " Then he walked towards them, "Promise me, you will restart your life Kunal," giving a quick glance at Kuhu, "Kunal and Kuhu, you will give your life another chance."
His decision was new to me , in one day, so much would change, I couldn't believe it.Just a couple of days ago, after Mehul Kapadia's truth came out, he had promised to stay with his family and Maa, "But Abir, what about the rest of the family?"
"Mishti, at some point in our lives, we move out of families, sometimes for work, sometimes to start a nuclear family that doesn't mean we don't love our family. In our society, when a woman marries, she leaves everyone she loves to move in with her husband's family. When no one blames the husband for taking a woman to his family, I'm just saying we will move out of Rajvansh Sadan to start a life with people who are happy for me and love me, love us. Mishbir House will always be open to anyone else who wants to move in and move out of that toxic environment, in fact, I'll offer this to everyone. I will be more than happy to move each one of them out of Maa's life, until she understands what she is doing is wrong and will always be wrong. I can't fight her anymore Mishti, for years I have argued over this, fought with her and been upset for days, been in pain for months because of Maa, she wanted to control me but she couldn't. The only difference back then was I would leave home and be called a banjara and it became normal for the family to see me gone for weeks," he looked around him, "but now, I've a home, I have you. I'm in pain but I can't argue and fight with her on the same topic when I know she hasn't listened to me for years, why will she understand me now. Hence, I'm leaving, not for weeks but for good. I want to live a peaceful and happy life," he movedhis glance at them, " and I want all of us to live that happy life. And I know now that it will have to be without Maa because this time, she has crossed all limits."
I was feeling overwhelmed with emotions, what was right decision to take."Everyone will say you left your house because of me?"
"I'm leaving the house because of Maa, I cannot live with her any more."
"You think this will help Maa understand what she is doing is wrong?" Kunal asked worriedly.
Abir looked at his brother, " I know one thing Nanko, if she had to understand, she had so many years to understand."
"You want me to move abroad?" Kunal had tears in his eyes, "What will I do without you Bhai?""
"I want you to start your life anew, a new beginning where you are mature and taking your decisions on your own. You need to be an adult now Kunal, you have Kuhu who is your wife, you need to make the decisions without my. You have a saathi and if you ever want advise, I'll be there always."
"Abir, there must be another way?" I pleaded.
"Please Mishti, if you don't want to move into our home, this beautiful Mishbir House, then I can move in with you in Maheshwari House, I have no issues." He grinned, wiping the tears away from my cheeks. "I want to live my life with you Mishti and I am not hopelessly emotional, I mean it to the core, you are the peace of my life, I know it and I have felt it. I've witnessed enough storms in my life because of Maa and Baba, I just want to live the rest of my remaining life in peace now," he pulled me closer to him. "Please agree with me? I don't want dramas anymore, no more threats, no more arguments and no more negativity. Just one simple, happy life."
I was looking out of the window, loving the garden lit under the moon, when Abir entered the room, "I gave him a medicine, Kunal should fall asleep soon, I told Kuhu to take care of him and to tell me if Kunal feels unease at night. It has been a long day for him," he encircled his arms around me, hugging my petite body, his chest firmly against my back. We closed our eyes, letting ourselves relax under the moonlight. "It has been a long day for you and me too." He kissed my ear, "I love you angry chorni, and I won't spend a second living away from you." He turned me around to face me and looked into my eyes, "Please marry me Mishti, please," his soft chocolate eyes pleaded and I nodded in response, I didn't want to hurt him any further and he continued speaking, holding my waist firmly, "tomorrow, I'll go to Badi Maa and Bade Papa and ask them for your hand. I'll tell them that I'm financially independent, I own a home and I love their daughter a lot. I'll promise that I'll give her everything under this moonlight, please let me marry her."
"But Abir..."
"Mom's dislike for you is so big that she revealed a secret, that was kept hidden for nearly all my life, I am her son, I know her, she will never change Mishti, she will never accept you." He pulled me closer, our foreheads touching on another, " and I will never let go of you." We stood in silence for some time, it felt like seconds only passed when he asked me softly, "how do you feel?"
"In your arms? I feel like I'm in heaven, I feel euphoric," I tried describing the feeling, it was his love was the medicine to all my problems. His dose is all that I need to increase my strength and happiness. This feeling easily vanished all the remnants of the horrible day.
"I want us to feel this for the rest of our lives." Abir pulled me, closing the gap between us, and rested his head on my shoulder , "You are my healer, Mishti, I know you'll heal me." His arms held me tightly, "I hope I can move in with Badi Maa and Bade Papa, life will would so much better," he chuckled, breathing in my hair.
We just had to execute the plan. And though I felt bad for all the family members, who didn't deserve this, I was happy to break the society's norms. Abir was right! If a woman can leave her entire family to spend the rest of her life with her in-laws, they why can't a man move in with her family. I was lucky that Abir even said this out-loud, only if this actually became true, Badi Maa, Bade Papa, Abir and I, life will definitely become the best. For this to be a reality, we had to change Bade Papa's decision, the last I remember, he announced that he'll never let me marry in the Rajvansh house. Resting my head on his chest, his firm hold around me got stronger, we felt blissful. I didn't want the night to end, I wanted to live this moment however the incidents of today had exhausted us so much that within a few minutes, Abir was snoring in my arms. Then I too let the sleep in.
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