by KASI, MV
Mahi felt her insecurities rear up. "I know that I haven't always been the sweetest or the most caring person towards your brother, but I love—"
Ananya shook her head and sighed. "The only thing that Preethi is missing is that...she is not who my brother loves. He wants you and loves you. Even though right now, he is sulking at our village and driving our parents crazy, he is missing you and needs you back."
Mahi began to cry softly. "I know that. I miss him too and I want to see him badly. I'm miserable without him."
Ananya held her hand gently. "I know that you love him and went into pieces when you thought he was gone. I'm sorry for lashing out at you that day. I was angry with you and I thought we had lost him too."
Mahi nodded in understanding.
"I think you should go to our village. I will ask my driver to take you there. He knows the way since he's from the same village," offered Ananya.
Mahi looked hopeful and uncertain. "But Samrat said he didn't want to talk or see me—"
"Bahh, my brother can be a drama queen sometimes. He used to sulk angrily for long periods of time when we were children. It used to drive us crazy at home with his cold looks. It was my mother's idea to ask you to visit our village home and speak with him."
Mahi smiled imagining Samrat sulking as a kid. "Can I leave right away? I just need ten minutes to pack a bag...just in case I have to stay there a few more days at a hotel or somewhere to convince him."
Ananya smiled. "Definitely pack a bag and be prepared for a few days of serious groveling. But no need to stay at a hotel, my mother will welcome you into our home. She wants my brother out, before he occupies their only other house and turns it into another space station."
Mahi laughed at the apt description and then ran into her room. She hurriedly threw in some clothes in a small bag and rushed out. And then, she followed Ananya's car.
At Ananya's place, the driver joined Mahi and they drove towards Samrat's parents' village house which was only three hours away from the Hyderabad city.
CHAPTER 30
It was raining heavily by the time Mahi reached Samrat's village. It was a little after three in the afternoon when the driver parked Mahi's car in front of a modest two-leveled home.
The driver told her that he would be visiting his parents' house and asked Mahi to call him when she was ready to head back to the city. She took his phone number and then got down the car with her bag.
She quickly ran inside a large front yard and rang the doorbell.
Samrat's mother answered the door and didn't seem to be surprised.
"Mahi, come inside," she said and showed her into a living room. "You are soaked. Wait here. I will get you a towel. Would you like something to drink apart from water?"
"No thank you aunty. I...just want to see Samrat now."
Samrat's mother smiled. "First have some water. I feel you might need it before you face my son in his current mood."
After drinking some water, Samrat's mother took her upstairs and knocked on a door loudly.
"I'm not hungry yet, ma. I'll come down when I want to eat," Samrat said gruffly from the room.
"Samrat, I need help with something. The home automation system you installed yesterday is causing issues. I am not able to turn off the fans in the dining room and the sitting room. Can you please check it, since it is wasting electricity," said Samrat's mother.
They heard Samrat grumbling inside.
"That's why I keep saying I will get more solar panels installed on the roof and—" he opened the room door with a frown and froze seeing Mahi standing next to his mother.
"Hey Samrat," Mahi said tentatively.
Seeing him after seven long weeks, her heart was beating frantically with both happiness and in nervous anticipation.
"Your bag will be in the opposite bedroom if you want to change out of the wet clothes," Samrat's mother told Mahi softly.
And then she squeezed Mahi's arm reassuringly before leaving them alone by going downstairs.
Samrat was scowling. "Why are you here?"
"Well...I was in the neighborhood and you went on and on about your village being so cool. I finally came here to check it out...with an overnight bag. You were right, it is very pretty," she said softly.
He didn't smile or respond, and just stared coldly at her.
"Can I come inside? I want to see your room," she said.
"No," he said curtly.
"Samrat, I know that whatever I did was pretty horrible, but please listen to me. Let me explain why—"
"Mahi, you made it pretty clear the last two times I tried to find out. I'm not interested anymore. Now, if you'll excuse me, unlike you I'm rather busy," he said abruptly and was about to shut the door on her face.
Mahi felt a weird déjà vu and quickly forced herself inside his room and closed it shut.
Samrat looked angry and gave her a quick sweeping look from top of her head to the bottom of her feet.
"You look like hell," he commented rudely, angry that he was still worried about her.
She smiled at him. "I know. I lost some weight in the last few weeks. I've been busy at work...You seem to have lost some weight too."
His cheekbones looked sharper and his face looked like he hadn't been sleeping well at nights like her.
She wanted to pull him closer, to hug him, and kiss him all over his face to wipe away his scowl. But his fierce and pissed off expression stopped her.
He would probably pick her up with one hand and throw her out of the window if she dared to touch him.
"I wanted to thank you, for helping out my ex-husband's soon-to-be ex-wife from an abusive marriage," she said softly.
He watched her expressionlessly, and shrugged as though he didn’t obsessively hunt her ex-husband down, and run an elaborate sting kind of operation to get him arrested for what he did to Mahi.
"If he was the kind to abuse before, there was more likelihood that he would do it again. And I was right, this time he was even more abusive. He was also being fearless and stupid, thinking that he wouldn't get caught. And that his second wife will also bear it calmly," he said.
Mahi nodded, feeling guilty that she hadn't thought in those terms and maybe could have saved that poor girl from misery much sooner.
Then smiling uncertainly at him, she said, "Quite an adventure the people on the company flight had. I heard everyone made it to safety with only minor injuries."
His face softened a little. "Were you worried about me?" he asked gruffly.
"Yeah. A little," she replied.
He was torn.
He wanted to drag her closer to comfort her. But he stayed put, remembering how she ripped out his heart to stomp on it. She left him in pieces for her peace of mind, not caring how he would take or cope with her abandonment.
He looked at her starkly in pain. "Mahi, I can't do this anymore. I'm so sick of paying for some asshole's mistakes. I have had enough. I don't want to get back together. I have moved on like you suggested. So I suggest you do the same."
"No, it's not just because of my bad marriage Samrat. Please listen to what I went through with A—" she began, going closer to him and touched his eyebrow scar gently to wipe away the painfully agonized expression.
He jerked and threw her hand away from his face angrily. "No! Don't ever touch me again. Do you understand me? And don't embarrass yourself by begging or throwing yourself on me when I'm no longer interested."
She went closer. "Samrat, just listen to me—"
"Get out from my house, Mahi. I don't want to hear anything. I'm simply not interested," he said flatly.
"Samrat—"
"Go!"
"But—"
"Go!"
Mahi was getting frustrated. She knew that he had every right to stay angry, but she had to make him listen to her explanation completely.
"I'm not going anywhere from this house until you listen," she told him stubbornly, getting unreasonably angry herself.
&n
bsp; "I don't care about you anymore and you are not welcome here," he said icily.
"That's fine. But just listen to me. Please Samrat—"
"No! Get. Out. Of. My. House," he enunciated each word coldly.
Mahi stayed still. And then, "Well...it's not your house. I won't go unless you listen to me. So what are you going to do about it?" she taunted him, folding her hands and standing firm.
His icy stare got much colder and she could see his jaw clenching tightly.
"Stop your childish games and get out from my house," he spoke in a dead calm.
She stared at him. "Make me," she dared him.
She wanted him to touch her, even if it was to just pick her up to throw her out.
With a furious expression, he opened the bedroom door and walked towards the opposite bedroom around the staircase.
She watched him in confusion and followed behind him. Then realizing what he was up to, "Wait," she shouted and ran towards him reaching the room the same time as him. "Stop being such a sulky stubborn ass and listen to me just for a minute!"
A maid was changing the bed sheets in the room and she froze when she saw Samrat's furious expression and then heard Mahi shouting at him. Not bothering to excuse herself, the maid fled from the room.
Samrat saw Mahi's bag kept neatly towards a wall and picked it up. "I want you out of my house!" he repeated and shoved the bag towards her.
She refused to take it and shook her head. "No! I'm not leaving unless you talk to me!"
"Leave."
"Not unless you listen to what I have to say. I'm staying in this house forever, if that's what it takes you to listen to me," she said.
He watched her stubborn expression and went towards the window with her bag.
"What are you doing? Don't you dare! Are you crazy? Stop!" she said as she realized he was trying to toss her bag out of the window.
He ripped the mesh layer out of the window and threw her bag out. The rain had stopped and there were a few workers standing near the courtyard. They looked stunned when they saw Mahi's bag flying down towards the ground. They were also shocked seeing that their normally aloof employer had done that.
She had a pleading expression on her face. “Please listen. I love you and I want to be with you,” she said imploringly.
He had an icy but agonized expression. "I don’t give a damn. Leave," he said.
Mahi’s heart clenched seeing the proud and controlled man reduced to behaving that way because of her. In fact both of them were behaving like two overgrown toddlers throwing a huge tantrum. Except for their broken hearts that desperately needed a resolution soon.
Not wanting to argue with him or reason with him when he wasn't in a mood to talk, she walked out of the room and went downstairs dejectedly.
Samrat's mother looked amused. "Was my son being stubborn and not talking to you in his sulk?"
"He wants me to get out from the house and even threw my bag out. I just wanted to explain to him about my painful phase when I lost my son and that I was scared of losing another child again. And that's why I broke up with him. I'm willing to try now for his sake and also for my sake," said Mahi.
Samrat's mother looked sympathetic. "Samrat has been in a bad mood lately. But that is no excuse to behave rudely or inhospitably. I think you both need time to sort this by yourselves in some privacy."
Mahi nodded. "I think so too. But short of giving him a tranquilizer and tying him up, there is no way I can get him to listen to me with his current stubborn mood," she said frustrated.
Samrat's mother looked thoughtful. "We do have tranquillizers that we use for our cattle, but I doubt my son will appreciate it. I have another idea. Hopefully it works. It did for me around forty years ago..."
CHAPTER 31
"Wake up, Samrat. I'm getting bored," a sultry voice murmured.
Samrat slowly opened his eyes with great difficulty. He was irritated by whoever was disturbing his sleep. For once he was able to sleep deeply, without any painful memories keeping him awake.
"Ah...finally. I was wondering if I should simply crawl in next to you, and wait until the morning to speak with you," a sultry voice whispered.
"What?" he asked in a daze.
"I didn't know how many sleeping pills your mom gave you or how long the effect would last," the sultry voice said.
Then he remembered.
Mahi coming to the village, trying to apologize to him and to get back with him. Him asking her to leave, then his mother sending up some fresh 'juice'. And after drinking it, he felt slightly drowsy and went to sleep.
He ground his teeth in anger.
"Ah, your analytical brain works overtime even if you are drugged slightly," said Mahi in an affectionate tone.
He looked towards her angrily. She was sitting next to him on the bed in the dim light with a content smile.
He tried to sit up abruptly and his hands jerked him back. His head snapped to both sides when he realized that he was tied and held up to the bed posts. Again.
He struggled furiously, shaking the bed violently and almost throwing Mahi off it.
"Calm down Samrat. I just want to talk. So please listen—"
"Untie me!" he roared.
"God, you are the most stubborn person in the world. But then, so am I. And we both lash out at people we love whenever we get scared of being hurt again. God save our kids who will inherit both our qualities."
He tried to take some deep calming breaths. "Let me ask you something before I kill you," he growled. "Are you certifiably crazy? Were you in a mental hospital sometime during your lifetime? Because if you were, then maybe I will feel a little guilty of killing a crazy person who was born that way."
Mahi laughed and leaned towards him to cup his face. "Will you really kill me when I untie your hands? Or will you kiss me like you do, and then love me like you do...desperately and passionately," she whispered in his ear.
He shuddered, "Consider the past year as a mistake. I was a fool then, loving someone who didn’t care an ounce for me," he grated out.
She didn't comment. She leaned closer, and kissed his strong, square, stubborn jaw, and then his chin dimple before kissing him on his closed stiff lips. She half expected him to bite her or turn his face away, but he slowly responded to her. His eyes were closed shut, and he kissed her back, his tongue entering her mouth as she caught his head firmly and then climbed over him to lie on top of him.
They kissed for an indeterminate amount of time and when she drew back, they were both gasping and panting.
"God, I missed you...I missed us...being together...loving each other," she told him between quick kisses and then moved away from him to sit next to him.
She smiled and ran her fingers on his stubbly cheek. "I can't talk to you with your distraction poking me on my stomach."
He frowned. "Get back here and I don't want to talk."
"We have to Samrat. I need to tell you about how it was for me during—"
"You left me! I don't want to listen. It will only make me come back to you again, only to be torn apart and thrown away like garbage again. I can't take it anymore!" he growled.
"Listen to me. Just for a minute—"
"No!" he shouted.
Mahi was getting frustrated with his stubbornness even though she knew that she deserved his contempt. She stood up to leave. She was almost at the bedroom doorway.
"Where are you going? Come back here you tease and finish what you started!" he shouted at her.
"Until you give me a minute of your time to listen to me, I'm not touching you...to either untie you or to finish what I started," she told him stubbornly even though her body was screaming at her to jump on him and to take up his offer first.
He looked irritated.
"I'll go down and drape myself in jasmine flowers and come up to force feed you rice pudding while you are still tied up to this bed," she threatened.
Samrat's mother had told her a few months ago about his weird h
ang-ups. He didn't like the smell of jasmine flowers. Apparently, during his childhood, he had harassed his mom and sister not to wear any during the prayers or for any occasions. He also didn't like the taste and texture of any kind of rice pudding, to the point that he adamantly refused to even taste some when it was given as god's offering.
He sighed loudly. "Fine. You have a minute. After that just untie me. Just so we can finish what you started, before you leave my life for good...in the morning."
Her chest tightened a little at his callous attitude, but she knew he was all bluster, and that there was no way he would throw her out after they spent the night together.
"Okay fine," she said, and then proceeded to tell him about her three miscarriages and about Aryan.
And about how he was born with complications, and what she went through each time he was hospitalized, the final days until he passed away. She also talked about her suicide attempt and then her counseling that didn't completely help. And how seeing Preethi's son had reminded her of those painful times, and how she felt guilty for holding Samrat back. And then, she finally told him how she was ready to have children and be courageous like he had asked her to.
Her voice broke down several times and she had unshed tears in her eyes when she was finally done.
Samrat was listening to her keenly and when she finished, he simply said, "Untie me, now."
She bit her lip uncertainly and untied him.
He rubbed his arms slightly when he was released and sat up.
"You took longer than a minute. In fact I'm sure it was several minutes. Now come here," he said softly.
She went towards him and he pulled her close. He picked her up and sat back, leaning towards the headboard.
"Why didn't you tell me before about how bad it was for you? Did you think I wouldn't understand? Or worse, pity you?" he asked her gently.
She shook her head. "I knew you would understand, but I used to dole out advices to you, about how we should remember only the happy times with our children, and not remember the guilt or feeling of helplessness. It was stupid of me not to share my dark times with you.”
