two stories of marriage

chapter 25

Kavin, who had just found out that dushyant had almost killed singhania, had lost it as he entered dushyant's room.

'what the hell bhai! Maine toh kuch gaaliyan dedi thi, tumne toh...' yelled kavin, making dushyant look up from his laptop's screen.

'baithega?' asked dushyant calmly as he signalled towards the bed in front of him.

'what!' exclaimed a perplexed kavin.

'baith ja, phir cheek bhi lena, koi baat nahi..pehle baith ja...' dushyant suggested as he kept his laptop aside.

He knew how to get people to stop yelling at him when they were mad, and make them have a conversation when they are in their right mind. He never let anybody screw his buttons so easily.

Kavin sighed in frustration as he sat down hesitantly.

'dekh, it's completely alright agar tujhe mujh par gussa aa raha hai...'

'aur nahi toh kya! Kabhi kuch batate ho kya chal raha hai aapke dimaag mein, aur gussa aa jaayein, toh phir bas sunte hi nahi ho...aur bhai, main bhi iss business mein partner hoon, aur yeh saara project maine hi dekha hai...aur aap suddenly bas..atleast mujhe kuch toh batao.' Said kavin, being very straight forward.

Dushyant was guilty of his anger taking the best of him, especially that day, the last time he got that angry...

Dushyant, just leaned forward to talk to his brother, reciprocating the honesty he was demanding.

'yaar, main khudh isiliye itna patient rehne ki koshish karta hoon, kyunki jab mujhe gussa aa jata hai...i don't trust myself with those emotions...' said dushyant, as he started to remember the last time he got that angry, the day his father died...

Kavin understood where his brother was coming from, especially when he realised that date was coming soon, the day their dad died. Dushyant would always be in a bad mood around those days, especially, if somebody pissed him off, then he would yell at them like anything.

After all these years, they had stopped thinking of that day when it came around the year. But dushyant had the hardest time letting go. Everyone thought it was because his flight got delayed and he couldn't be there on the funeral, but just like they say, everything is not what it seems, and in this case, it really was not. 

                                                                          ***

Ishita returned home that evening nervous. She knew that she wouldn't have to hide it for so long as purvi was going to tell kavin about the abortion, but one day was enough for her head to come up with worst case scenarios of everything.

'arre beta tum aa gayi!' remarked mrs khanna as ishita smiled and nodded.

'kaisi hai phir purvi?' asked mrs khanna with genuine concern.

'uhh, woh...thik hai...bilkul, thik hai...' fumbled ishita.

'shukar hai, kavin toh itna pareshaan ho gaya tha, but ab sab theek ho jayega...' she said as ishita just nodded.

'arre main bhi, tumhe yahan khada rakha hai! Tum jao na kamre mein, fresh ho jao. Main kehte hoon shyam ko khaane ki tayaari karne ko..' said mrs khanna as she left and ishita climbed upstairs with dread.

Only when she entered her room, there was dushyant and kavin, sitting there and working.

'arre, aap kab aayi!' remarked dushyant.

'kya baat hai bhabhi, aaj bahaut der ho gayi!' kavin chimed in.

'haan, woh...uh...' ishita tried to construct a sentence, only to no avail. This was enough for dushyant to get a hint that something was wrong.

'purvi theek hai na?' asked dushyant with a brow raised at her.

'haan, haan..uhh, theek hai..woh actually, kavin, woh tumse milna bhi chahti thi...' said ishita, as dushyant and kavin looked at each other, they both had sensed that something was up.

'mujhse milna chahti thi...'

'haan, uhh, kal...bataya nahi usne?' asked ishita, realising that still wasn't the worst thing she had spilled.

'nahi. Baat karun usse?' asked kavin, trying to make sense of the situation.

'nahi, nahi, woh khud hi bata degi...uhh, main zara...' she said, as she walked pointing towards the bathroom.

'main bhi zara, chalta hoon.' Exited kavin, giving dushyant his que to find out what was going on.

                                                      ***

While ishita was in the bathroom, dushyant's gaze fell on ishita's phone that got a message of a notification. Even though reluctant at first, dushyant looked at the message that read:

Kal dopeher do baje ka appointment dediya hai next.

The puzzling message just made him more shocked when he read the previous one:

Pregnancy mein koi complications bhi nahi hain, jaise bataya tha aaj, so it will be easy.

'ishita, pregnant?' thought dushyant.

The thought caused him to freeze right there. He kept the phone aside, as he sat down and covered his face.

'no! no! no! yeh sab kaise ho gaya...she can't, she can't be pregnant...gosh, yeh, koi galat faimi hoon...'

'isiliye mujhe shaadi nahi karni thi! Bachon pe baat aani hi thi...'

'par usne yeh baat chupayi kyun!'

                                               ***

Purvi was about to go to sleep before she got the forwards of the doctor's messages. She lied down in bed, as her gaze fell on her stomach which she brushed her hands across,

'kahi main kuch galat toh nahi kar rahi hoon...'